Next to New City, the Village of Spring Valley has the largest population in Rockland County and straddles both the Towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown. Spring Valley is a microcosm of sorts of Ramapo itself, with a fast-growing Orthodox population and a mix of colors, ethnicities and beliefs. And just like many other towns and villages across the county, Spring Valley appears to be at a crossroads, with an entrenched political hierarchy that faces growing citizen clamor for change. The current Spring Valley mayor is running for re-election even while under federal indictment for public corruption. Newly built store fronts in the village have sat empty — some for years. The following article excerpts Karben Copy and Ryan Karben’s colorful take on the Spring Valley mayoral race as it winds its way to the Tuesday, September 10, primary.
Salvation In Spring Valley by Ryan Karben
“It is a story of corruption, mismanagement and abuse of power,” Daniel Friedman said as his voice aspired to a preacher’s cadence and elicited some amens from the mostly black crowd at a candidate’s forum in Spring Valley’s youth center. Lamenting the sins of the incumbent (and indicted) mayor he is running against, he vowed to revitalize the downtown of this multi-ethnic community.
“Papa John’s is not economic development,” he roared.
Friedman, in the fourth year of a tenure on the Town of Ramapo Council he began at age 23, decided to try to exchange his current legislative role for an executive one a year ago. Before the mayor he planned to challenge was arrested in an FBI-led corruption sting. Before the building where he governs, Ramapo Town Hall in Suffern, was raided by the feds. Before the village’s already swirling cauldron of ethnic strife, real estate interests and financial stress bubbled over onto the front pages of New York City newspapers with tales of wiretaps, clandestine meetings and undercover agents.
His polished and well-honed attacks on village officials for taking large pay raises while taxes climbed reflects a smart, disciplined campaign and he has relentlessly pursued impressed voters with the zeal unique to younger candidates.
Friedman makes the only credible claim to outsider status on the village government’s problems. But his polish can also seem out of place amid the village’s traditional street theater politics. Friedman recently moved to Spring Valley from his home right outside the village borders.
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Papa John’s could be as good at it gets for the village. The store is one of the bright spots on Main Street — because of its loud lights, not because it attracts many customers. While ethnic food stores in rundown buildings can still brim with regulars, a dozen newly built stores are vacant and have been for years.
As Democrats ponder their choices in Tuesday’s primary election, the signs of the mayoral aspirants clog the commercial artery. Cynical and disinterested residents have heard political promises of downtown renewal before. And the candidates know it.
Many say the mayoralty of this community has become a tarnished medal, even for those like Village Trustee Demeza Delhomme who have come close to the prize before. Addressing the same crowd as Friedman, Delhomme said he was unsurprised by either the scandals that have brought federal corruption indictments against Mayor Noramie Jasmin and her Deputy Mayor or what he sees as deterioration in the municipality’s urban center.
“I told you what was going to happen and it did,” Delhomme said.
Nearly four years ago, after Jasmin defeated him, Delhomme had pledged to work closely with the new Mayor to bring progress to the village. But he soured as he felt Jasmin’s mayoralty was growing increasingly imperial and controlling. The always independent Delhomme wanted none of it.
In 2003, Delhomme, a revered figured for many Haitian youth, won a hot Democratic primary in a county legislative district drawn specifically to elect a Haitian. But his bid faltered in the November Election when his rival, David Fried (now a candidate for County Executive) successfully accused him of making anti-Semitic remarks on Delhomme’s cable show. Delhomme’s remarks were disturbing and widely condemned at the time, but he has been a relatively consistent vote for the religious needs of the village’s Hasidim as a trustee.
And while his remarks are history to many, Delhomme has the memory of an elephant. He is enthusiastically supporting Fried’s opponent this year — who coincidentally has strong Hasidic support.
By all accounts, the prize in this election should be Demeza’s.
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It was a unique Spring Valley moment as [Spring Valley Trustee and mayoral candidate Joseph] Gross made his case to the room filled with NAACP activists, political leaders and random campaign volunteers. This was not a friendly crowd, riveted as the town is with tensions between the Hasidim and racial minorities. But Gross was determined to cross the divide, proudly appearing in his distinctive black frock. Asked about building code violations in the village, he promised not tougher enforcement but more affordable housing—the key concern of his constituency, young Hasidic families struggling with village property tax bills that are among the highest in the state.
The crowd, unimpressed, also provided no applause when he said he wanted “the best public schools.” The tension was palpable — and unfair.
Gross has struggled for his voice with minority audiences but has pursued support from all quarters of the village with cheer, enthusiasm and determination. At a rainy Haitian Flag Day parade, he bounded from one side of the street to the other, his distinctive strawberry blond side curls swinging, as he handed out t-shirts with his name and the Haitian flag. When an activist complained that the colors on the flag were wrong (the dark navy should have been a brighter blue), Gross shrugged.
“I’m here to celebrate with the entire community,” he said.
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Figuring Spring Valley’s electoral math can require an advanced degree. With two Orthodox candidates and three Haitian candidates (Vilair Fonvil, a frequent office seeker who would have easily won a seat on the Board of Trustees is also making another long shot bid for Mayor), victory depends on voting patterns in individual churches and religious sects.
But the corruption scandals seems to have depressed, rather than motivated, the electorate. Outside the echo chamber of political activists, even reliable Democratic voters express a resigned skepticism about the ability of any of the candidates lead effectively.
[Current Spring Valley Mayor Noramie] Jasmin’s ascendant political star plummeted with her arrest in April on federal corruption charges, but she has rallied her base of Haitian-American women as the election draws near. Fashionable, smart and quick on her feet, Jasmin has used all the tools of her mayoralty to unify the Haitian vote behind her and change the headline on her political obituary before the ink dries.
Jasmin swats back talk of dissolving the high tax municipality with ringing defenses of the services it provides. And she understands the levers of power. She tacked a $300,000 road improvement bond on to a village board agenda, cornering her electoral rivals and fellow board members Gross and Delhomme. The Mayor pushed for an immediate vote; her colleagues understandably balked. The next day, Jasmin took to the radio, blasting her opponents for jeopardizing the village’s infrastructure.
Now, Jasmin is in the fight of her political life, the local Democratic party is non-functional and residents who once filled village board rooms with complaints and criticism now burst out of overflowing churches and synagogues. More people attend Sunday services on one stretch of Main Street than will vote in Tuesday’s primary and today’s village residents are more comfortable in the pews than at the polls.
No one in Spring Valley is seeking salvation through politics anymore, except maybe the candidates themselves.
Read the full “Salvation In Spring Valley” article at Karben Copy.
